County

Ada Sheriff: Probation Takeover Smooth

One week into the new fiscal year and Ada Sheriff Gary Raney tells the GUARDIAN the transition for misdemeanor probation from a private company to the Sheriff is going smoothly.
“We handled hundreds of people last week with few glitches even though we had no control prior to them walking through the door,” said Raney. Probationers can contact the department at 577-3380 or via e-mail at misdemeanorprobation@adaweb.net.

The private for profit “Ada County Misdemeanor Provation Services, Inc.” came under fire when offenders complained to the GUARDIAN and the Ada Commishes about fees, drug testing, and other allegations. Commissioners declined to renew a contract with the private firm and turned the program over to the Ada Sheriff.

With the jail, work release, inmate labor detail, and other expertise we don’t see a major conflict with the supervision of misdemeanor offenders by the Sheriff. It isn’t much different than felony parole and probation being handled by the Idaho Department of Corrections which also runs the prison system.

There is a constitutional amendment on the November ballot which seeks to clarify the issue of whether or not counties have authority to manage misdemeanor probation.

The amendment is poorly written. It was hastily passed by 2/3 of both the Idaho House and Senate and needs a simple majority from citizens for approval.

Here is the proposal which simply adds the word “FELONY”:“Shall Section 5, Article X, of the Constitution of the State of Idaho be amended to provide that the state board of correction shall have the control, direction and management of adult felony probation and parole?” The Board of Correction already has the authority it seeks.

A legal opinion in a case argued before the Idaho Supreme Court held that ALL probation–misdemeanor and felony–is the duty of the department of corrections, not the counties or private contractors.

The proposed amendment does little to clarify the issue or enable counties to assume authority for misdemeanor probation. The language doesn’t say, “the state shall handle ONLY felony probation” and there is no mention of counties having authority to handle misdemeanor probation. In their rush to judgement we feel the legislature failed to communicate.

Comments & Discussion

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I have heard that the Sheriff has hired PO’s with no domestic violence training/experience at all to handle a DV caseload. This is really a shame since DV offenders are some of the most dangerous offenders and should be monitored extreemly closely and held accountable for their crime. I am just hoping that the PO’s who took over the DV caseload will do a good job and make sure their clients are accoubntable and not let them slip through the cracks. People’s lives depend on this!

If it was so smooth why are they looking for PO’s again? This is the 3rd time the job opening has appeared on their website even though they only hired one PO from the old ACMPS. There were qualified experienced PO’s who lost their job and the Sheriff can’t seem to find enough people to fill the positions? Or maybe some have already quit? I doubt it is as smooth as they say.

EDITOR NOTE–Our sources say they were having problems finding people who could pass the background check. Don’t know if that’s true or not. Personnel matters are exempt from disclosure.

Flyhead,
Not everyone who was punished according to Idaho’s Draconian legal system is a “misfit”, I bet if we could look into your past you too (along with everyone else in this state) is guilty of at least one crime that warrants probation according to Idaho “Law”
so, carful with the labels there bub

So you’re saying that if I had a misdemeanor conviction for underage drinking, possession of cigarettes or something equally innocuous 10+ years ago, I could not qualify to be a PO at the sheriff’s office today? Insane.

Why would the Guardian ask the sherriff if it is smooth? Ask us, the probationers. It is ridiculous, herding us through like cattle, not even seeing a PO, but of course billed for no service. Weird the standards are so high, maybe it’s because so many deputies there have gotten themselves into criminal and unethical behavior.

EDITOR NOTE–Gosh Brian. I didn’t know there was a directory of current probationers addresses for me to tap! You are all welcome to offer comments of your own experiences. The sheriff reads the site and of course you can offer contact info if there is something he needs to look into.

Brian-
any form of this state’s correctional system is nothing more than legalized terrorism. if they wanted things to run smoothly, then they would run smoothly, but they wouldn’t get as much money from the people being tortured. The “probationers” are looked upon as cattle, a form of income for the Bas!@*ds who wear badges, and idiots with black robes and little wooden hammers.

Dave, why would a probationer who is in their right mind stand up and ask his excellency no brainy Raney anything. Ask any fireman in Boise what they think of Gary.. hell ask deer in the headlights Dave Beiter what he thinks of good ole Gary… don’t expect people who Gary and his keystone cops have their thumb on to actually come forward and cut their own throats.. If you thought people were afraid of Claddis and her bunch… that will be nothing compared to the intimidation that will come from these thugs

To Shame… where do you get your info about domestics being the “most dangerous” offenders much to the contrary the average domestic usually ends without injury to anyone involved… the media sensationalizes the worst incidences and the sheeple think that is the norm
Read this:
Official Incidents of Domestic Violence: Types, Injury, and Associations With Nonofficial Couple AggressionCapaldi, Deborah M, PhD; Shortt, Joann Wu, PhD; Kim, Hyounk PHD ; Wilson, Jane; Crosby, Lynn
; et al.Violence and Victims 24. 4 (2009):

Injuries. During the IPV incidents, a minority of the men and a majority of the women were injured. The prevalence of any injury and each type of injury is shown by gender in Table 3. The most common injuries reported included bruising, cuts, and scrapes, and the rates for these injuries were two to four times greater for the women than the men. There were some injuries, such as being knocked down and knocked unconscious, that occurred only for women. There were no cases of broken bones, and only two women received medical treatment. For example, one case involved a severe laceration to the woman’s foot when the man ran over it with his car when trying to leave the house during an argument.

Kinda proves that domestics do not cause nearly the amount of injuries that the public is led to believe. There are many more people injured in bar fights than domestics each year.
If domestics werent such a big money maker for the courts, probation, and counselors your would see a drastic reduction in the number of arrests and convictions

Oh my Gosh! Is this a joke? Another great move by Yzaguirre and Ullman? This so called new probation move is an insult making me feel like a number and not a person. My old PO knew and cared about me and the steps I made with my recovery. Now I walk in, wait in a room with dozens of others and get herded back for a group pow wow and make sure we pay our money. Feels like a jail, glass windows and locked doors. Guess they are afraid of us and want us to know law enforcement is now in charge of us. Why would they change a system that worked for this?
Tom is right on the intimidation.

It’s at 8601 Emerald, you should visit. I’ve been reading up on politics lately. Tell me more on the fireman and Mayor Beiter. It seems Sheriff Ranny is not too popular. I just read where he just got a $25,000 raise!!! Is that becaause he now has probation? He makes more than the Governor, that’s just plain wrong. Is he part of the Yzaguirre and Ullman duet? Politics in Ada County sucks big time.

as far as the fire dept and raney go… if his office catches fire.. I would be willing to bet every fire truck in Boise would break down on the way… I know that sharon thinks good ole gary is a fine man.. I dont know how rick feels… I think I will “drive by”..lol.. tomorrow.. and see whats up

They all act like wanna be cops who know little about what they are doing. They could care less that we are missing work sitting in there forever just waiting to be called to the back with a bunch of other people. Comments from everyone I spoke too are bad. We are not being supervised, just paying money. I’m writing a letter to the judge asking for unsupervised. This is pathetic.

Play the part, smile, answer a couple of questions and be on your way. It’s a joke, but it makes it easy for us. As long as I pay my fee, they don’t even check on anything else. I can even have a couple of beers now or party with my friends,no testing to get me in trouble!

Well breeze if that is true the probationers must be loving it. No testing, no accountability, not much of a probation is it? Probation should have some accountability that goes along with it but, this sounds like the only accountability here is the accountability the sheriff’s accountants are taking. I’m not saying good ole Gary isn’t smart he is. He knows if he lowers recidivism rates he dries up a very lucrative money stream and that wouldn’t be good for his empire building aspirations. I wouldn’t brag too much about no testing if I were you, things might change and there goes your party time.

Thank you, So few on here are able to look past their own agenda’s and see the bigger picture. One of these days government’s large and small will discover that as well intentioned as they were, they in fact have done everyone criminal and victim alike an immeasurable disservice. This system is more concerned with taking its pound of flesh(cash)than either making the victim whole or doing one thing to reform the convicted.